Like so: java -cp clojure.jar clojure.main Clojure 1.2.0 user=> (defn f [x] x) #’user/f

Question

0

Asked: May 27, 20262026-05-27T14:53:54+00:00 2026-05-27T14:53:54+00:00

Like so: java -cp clojure.jar clojure.main Clojure 1.2.0 user=> (defn f [x] x) #’user/f

0

Like so:

java -cp clojure.jar clojure.main
Clojure 1.2.0
user=> (defn f [x] x)
#'user/f
user=> (meta f)
{:ns #<Namespace user>, :name f}
user=> (defn f [x] x)
#'user/f
user=> (meta f)
{:ns #<Namespace user>, :name f, :file "NO_SOURCE_PATH", :line 1, :arglists ([x])}
user=>

Why doesn’t the call to meta return the same value each time?

UPDATE: by playing some more I was able to get an answer to my immediate question. defn macro-expands to a form which adds (meta (var f) to f‘s metadata. And (meta (var f) includes the extra info that isn’t in (meta f) when f is defined the first time. So my question now becomes, why is defn implemented like this?

java -cp clojure.jar clojure.main
Clojure 1.2.0
user=> (defn f [x] x)
#'user/f
user=> (meta f)
{:ns #<Namespace user>, :name f}
user=> (meta (var f))
{:ns #<Namespace user>, :name f, :file "NO_SOURCE_PATH", :line 1, :arglists ([x])}
user=> (macroexpand '(defn f [x] x))
(def f (.withMeta (clojure.core/fn f ([x] x)) (.meta (var f)))) ; (.meta x) seems to be the same as (meta x)
user=>